prayers.
In the beginning there was only silence
Just a haunting note
Supposed to be a remedy, a prayer in our time of mourning
But I wasn’t ready to say amen
3 calls straight to voicemail
Until even stuttered hallelujahs are swallowed
In the pressing silence
Suddenly I am as alone
As you must have felt
When you swallowed those pills
Knocked back Xanax like some kind of savior
Taking communion in the holy stillness, of your own mausoleum
I bow my head
As imagine your face as I last saw it
I wonder for the first time
If you were lying
When you last said you were happy
If you lying
When i last asked if you were okay
And you said don’t worry
Because now here I am
Reciting the only prayers I know in a church
Lit by candlelight in the impossible emptiness of Midnight
So I’m reaching out to you
Pull you down from your holy cross
As if my love will be enough
To force the air back into your lungs
As if my faltering faith will be enough
To bring the life back into your eyes
And maybe then you will fall back into place
Beside me at this altar of life
Let me reach inside of your skin
And hold the fractured pieces of you together
They say suicide is a sin
But you don’t believe in God
And if I were to worship anyone it would be you
Lay my unworthy body at your feet and pray for forgiveness
Drink the blood of my sins and cry out
Dear God I need a miracle
Turn this holy water into wine
Resurrect this boy I once loved
For now he is all skin and bones
I digress
Make me clean
Set holy fires in my bones
Save me from what I will become
When you are gone
Please send me a sign,
And tell me,
Did it come to you in a sudden thought?
One moment you were breathing deep and slow
And next you were falling into the pit of your own mind?
Or did it wash over you like forgiveness
The sky of your thoughts fading into night?
And when my knees are bleeding like your wrists
At the altar of your sorrow
I will move on
Put misplaced faith aside and take you into my arms
Make a home for you inside these ribs
Gently guide you away from the grave you dug yourself
Fill the holes with truth 'stead of empty promises
Within these prayers
I beg of you
Beware of black holes
Your body is a temple
Crucifixion will not fill the emptiness in between your ribs
Will not make you holy
You are all that you have
Let the sharpness go
Breathe in and
Say it with me now,
Amen